What James Gunn Should Do Differently For The DCU’s Wonder Woman
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James Gunn is gearing up to reinvent the DC Comics universe, with his upcoming projects, starting with Superman: Legacy, which he has written and directed with a release set for sometime in 2025. Gunn will oversee the DCU for the foreseeable future, after experiencing resounding success with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, and DC’s own The Suicide Squad sequel.
He was considered the only man for the job after showcasing his talents in the superhero genre for many years. Superman is not the only character he must reinvent if the DCU is going to be a success. Wonder Woman is a character who needs to be built upon in this new iteration, with a number of changes needed to push her character forward.
A romance with Batman or Superman or both
Wonder Woman is powerful, so much more so than Batman and potentially Superman as well, but the latter stand-off would be a bit more evenly contested. There have been lots of hints of romance between Wonder Woman and The Dark Knight, and to an extent, the Man of Steel as well, with nothing coming to fruition with either superhero in the movies.
Wonder Woman and Superman always insisted they were just good friends, especially as Clark Kent’s alter ego was somewhat besotted by Lois Lane. However, Batman and Wonder Woman did have a romance in the comic books which has never gone further than flirting in the movies. It’s about time these sparks reached fever pitch, and created a romantic dynamic for Wonder Woman.
Another idea would be to create a love triangle between Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman. This would’ve been a much more logical reason for a Batman v Superman stand-off, instead of the reasons given in the actual movie that pitted the superheroes against each other. A good old-fashioned love triangle to cause friction between the two superheroes, leading to a war. They could still patch things up in the end when they realize their mothers have the same first name. Everything is down to James Gunn’s DCU plans for the future, and what direction he wants to go in.
A standalone movie set in the present-day
Both Wonder Woman standalone movies were set primarily in the past, with the first movie being an origin story and the sequel taking place in 1984. If Wonder Woman 3 is to go ahead, it would be good to see the iconic superhero have an adventure in the present day.
It could feature some of the characters from the DCU making appearances in her movie, rather than Wonder Woman having to venture into Batman or Superman’s world in order to feature in the present day, which is what has happened thus far. Similar to how Thor had to navigate life on earth in his original movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Wonder Woman could be rebooted with Diana adapting to her life in new surroundings in the present day, worlds away from her origins on Themyscira.
James Gunn has announced that a Wonder Woman prequel show called Paradise Lost is set to be developed and shown on HBO Max in the near future. This will focus on Paradise Island before Diana Prince was born, and it will be a Game of Thrones-style story. Gunn is clearly intent on developing the Wonder Woman mythology, so here’s hoping he’ll dip into Wonder Woman’s present-day timeline for a future movie or television series.
Don’t recast Wonder Woman, and make her a central focus
It has been confirmed that Gal Gadot will not be returning to play Wonder Woman in the DCU which was a huge disappointment to fans of her performance. It was also confirmed that Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Ezra Miller and Jason Momoa would also not be returning as the characters they originally played. However, Momoa may still return to play a different character, with a rumor circling that he is set to play Lobo in Superman: Legacy.
Gal Gadot is the perfect Wonder Woman, and James Gunn would be wise to go back on his decision for her not to return. Gunn created controversy when he replaced Henry Cavill as Superman, with newcomer David Corenswet taking on the role in the upcoming Superman: Legacy. However, Gunn seems intent on creating his own path forward with the DCU universe, which has to be respected.
Fans understand the new DCU needs to make changes if it’s to succeed where previous movies have failed, but Gal Gadot is not done as Wonder Woman, and shouldn’t be replaced. When James Gunn took over The Suicide Squad sequel, he chose to focus primarily on different main characters, except for Margot Robbie, who did reprise her role as Harley Quinn. She was the standout performer in an otherwise disappointing first Suicide Squad movie. She simply had to return, and the same goes for Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Despite the disappointments of certain previous DC movies, Gadot was a standout performer in the Wonder Woman solo movies, as well as her appearances in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. She could be made a central focus in the DCU instead of being replaced further down the line.
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